Rodney Perry got booed off stage by a white audience member, but his booker brought him back for one final bit he rates a seven out of ten. He was banned from that venue for years, though the booker later became his friend. Perry learned that a solid closer can save a set and that pride gets humbled fast in comedy.
I'm on stage. Guy Torrey loves this story. I'm on stage, maybe 60 seconds, start getting booed. I can still see the guy. I'm on stage. He's right there. He stands up. A white guy. Out of all the Black people in the audience, the white guy stood up and started booing me. Found out later on he worked for Death Row. Now a boo is like wildfire. Yes, sir. You know, a boo is like you try to, you try to roast this guy and then boo, move over here, then move over here, and before you know it, the whole room is booing. Guy, Tory, came out, he's like, yo, man, can't talk about my audience like that, man. Thank you, bro. Get out of here. So he comes out of the sheer curtain. There's a, there's, there's a curtain and a sheer curtain so people can see you but not really. I'm back there. My wife is working her way behind backstage to get to me. She gets to me. I'm, I'm standing there. She comes to my side. She's like, you okay? I said, yeah, I'm all right. But that's not why I'm here. It's not why I came here. And in that moment, Guy Torrey goes, well, somebody in the audience goes, well, he didn't get a chance. He's like, what, y'all want to see him again? And I'm still there behind the curtain. He opens the curtains. I'm still there.
They come on, boy.
He put me on stage. We have a little banter. He's like, yo, man. You bombed, man. You want to try it again? I said, yeah, bro, I, I definitely want to try it again. Come on, man. And so I'm on stage post-bomb, and I'm like, well, I'm doing a mental edit. I'm going to my closer, because if you can't rely on your close, you can't rely on nothing else. Yes, exactly. I started doing my closer. My closer gets maybe a seven on a scale of one to ten. My closer gets maybe a seven. I take that little laugh and I was like, "Hey y'all, that's my time. I'm gonna get out of here." Joe Torre told me, he said, "Rodney," he said, "You know when I start fucking with you?" He said, "Bro, when we open that curtain and you are still there," he said, "Most people be gone." Yeah. And so that was the foundation I would rest on for many years. But the crazy thing about a bomb is I couldn't get back on that stage for another 3 years, 4 years, because Terrence was a booker and Terrence wouldn't even have— wouldn't have nothing to do with me. Now he's one of my closest friends.
Someone told me in comedy you can't have too much pride. He said, because people will humble you in a heartbeat. And I'm sitting up there thinking, okay, this man is already in a limo. He got his wife there, he got his family there. I still had to ride home with them that night.
Let me have it in the car. This nigga bomb like a motherfucker. Goddamn, you all right, young fella? Oh, life is too short. Now turn that corner, corner, corner. Real player, real player, dream chaser.
Grown folks only #rnbmusic #raycantgetright #oldschool #grownfolks #viralreelschallenge
